Echo & the Bunnymen, Songs to Learn and Sing

"Back of Love" wins for me thanks to that dreamy bridge with the strings.

this is tough. I might vote for "Do It Clean"

Why I'm voting for BotDHs:

+ Pete's drumming. He has an amazing soft touch of blending in his high-hat with the 16th-note chuggy arpeggiator at the end of each bar, and then this unusual ambidextrous way of punctuating the offbeat in the chorus.
+ Les's bass. The chorus has this nifty thing where he does that ascending D-E-F# lick on three different strings while simultaneously ringing the open string of the chord progression (D-A-G).
+ I know that arp-synth gate/triggered trem-heavy sound was pretty hot at the time ("How Soon Is Now?" was released a few months earlier) but I feel that in an age of complete excess, Will's playing is really minimal and understated, giving a lot of space to the rhythm section and...
- lol those corny-ass presets! those pentatonic harp sweeps, the dreaded pan flute, "lush strings" is the other one in verse 2 I think... but they save the best one for the chorus, that kind of reedy/brassy Eno-esque ascension DX-7 patch. I can forgive those goofy 80s cliches just for the payoff of the one in the chorus.

Plus, the video

bit of an unfair poll, since you have to choose one favorite song from five albums... and each representing a different stage/phase.
Then that's how it is. I'm with 'A promise' from Heaven Up Here.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I saw them a couple times, including the tour after this was released. In the end, can't deny "The Killing Moon."

I would have gone for Ocean Rain if it were here, too. Saving that, The Cutter (the live version off the Liverpool album is holy shit amazing).

"Killing Moon" is very my thing

this is tough. I might vote for "Do It Clean"

― crüt, Tuesday, March 31, 2020 10:21 PM (two weeks ago)

I've never warmed to these people, but I can't deny "The Cutter" and "Do It Clean."

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprised at the result!

same! i didn't realize that "Bring On The Dancing Horses" was a big song for them, tbh

Pretty in Pink, y'all. Maybe you weren't old enough.

*looks down at 50 year old hands. Frowns*.

Well.

i think i voted for 'the cutter' but this poll prompted me to listen to 'bring on the dancing horses' every day for like a week so